Hi, i have a 9 week old lab pup shes been with us for 5 days today. I am really keen to get her loving water so she will one day be a water dog and id love her to be able to have a go at splash and dash does anyone have any tips for how to get her to like water. at the moment she doesnt seem major keen, i will put her in a very shallow paddling pool (just covers her feet) and she will kind of freeze almost and not want to play anymore. Any advice be great, thank you
To add... She has not yet got her high value toy this is a working progress and will take time. I have just taking her to paddling pool and she was happy when doing moving about for food, she is a serious pig! If anyone has any suggestions for how else i can make paddling pool a good zone? I am thinking to put toys in it that she has to go into to get? Not really sure what else i can do at the moment
Hi and congratulations on your new pup! Other more experienced Labrador veterans may have better suggestions, but the pool sounds like a great idea. She's just a baby and everything is new...so the freezing is normal. I did the toys in the pool thing and that was a lot of fun and you've already found out that food works. But mainly I wanted to say that it's really unlikely that she's NOT going to like water, no matter what you do. 'Cause she's a Lab. I've got a Labrador foster who was never in the water because he was in a cage his whole life (1 year). When I took him out he was afraid of the water but sort of fascinated by it at the same time. Then he met some Labrador friends who were swimming and he took a couple cautious jumps in and from that moment on...yowsa! He's a total water baby. He couldn't swim for beans at first, but now he swims every day and he's like a seal...only 6 weeks later. So don't worry, your pup will get there. And when she's older, if there's any doubt, just invite some swimming friends around whom she can copy.
I would just have a little water in the paddling pool and leave it to pup to investigate - definitely not pick her up and put her in. That's a good way to frighten her, hence the freeze, so she never becomes comfortable around water. Going into water should be the pups choice- not yours. She is only 9 weeks old, a real baby still, so there is absolutely no reason to try and speed up the process. There is so much more I the way of life skills for her to be learning to fret over whether she likes the paddling pool or not.
I would reiterate what Emily_BabbelHund said, Woody our 3 year old adopted lab Had never seen water and living by the coast I wanted him to love it but wasn’t going to force the issue. So I took him down to the seaside on a quiet evening and walked along the waters edge, letting him explore as much as he wanted, no pressure. When I did some paddling he joined me a little deeper and we did see a labradoodle swimming which he was intrigued by. He wasn’t sure of the waves though so we only did what He felt comfortable with. We’ve just got back from Norfolk and he’s now a complete Labrador water baby, no hesitation about swimming and quite happy to go in after a ball, the swimming thing was just instinctive. I think the most important thing is allow your pup to build confidence in his own time as you don’t want water to be linked to any negative experiences.
A creek or pond might be better than a wading pool, since most pups can't just walk into the water in a wading pool.
